Gibraltar based online betting company 888.com has seen its profits surge by nearly 300 percent, despite the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) forcing it to close its United States business.

Gross profits for the first half of this year reached US$19 million - an increase of US$14 million on last year.  It also beats forecasted profits of US$16.4 million. 

The company lost 55 percent of its revenue by the loss of the US market but despite this, the company has still recorded a sharp rise in profits from continued operations.  This indicates that the online betting industry is still in good shape despite the loss of the US market.

Sponsorship deals with the World Snooker Championship and Sevilla football club together with a partnership with Riley’s snooker halls to create live in-hall poker tournaments as well as online poker, have all contributed to help the company’s profits.

It is the success of these sponsorship deals which have been indicated in a survey showing that 888.com has the most brand awareness by the public of any online betting company.

Speaking of the news about profits Chief Executive Gigi Levy commented, “The turnaround we had begun to achieve at the full year has been successful.”

In addition to its other ventures 888.com has also acquired Belize based Globalcom’s bingo business.

888.com are expanding even more in Latin America by striking up a deal with Tower Torneos a major player in the Latin American gaming market. This will allow Latin American customers to play 888.com’s casino, bingo and backgammon games.

The company also look set to begin a sports betting project in Italy.

Future deals with more companies are also in the pipeline, Gigi Levy talking about the company’s future plans added, “We have narrowed talks down to a couple of companies and we are in negotiations with them.”

If that wasn’t enough the company are also planning to launch betting games on flights and on mobile phones in 12 different languages.

Levy said, “Given the good start to Q3, the continuous growth in Bingo, our strategic partnership deals, current trading and our clear business strategy, we remain confident of delivering further growth in 2007.”

However it isn’t all good news for the online betting giant.  888.com may face prosecution in the United States as the investigation into online betting following the change in the law is still ongoing.